Is it Sixcolors' Fedora 2?

October 11, 2009 2:31 PM

I'd like to update the in-jokes page on the MeFi wiki. So what in-jokes are missing?

I went there looking for an explanation for "Is it 'Ghostbusters 2'?," which I find kinda funny even though I don't know what the hell it references. Might be funnier if I didn't know.

But I realized that page could use some updating, and I'm happy to do it. Some things I notice missing are fedoras and sixcolors ... what else needs to be updated there?

posted by jbickers to MetaFilter-Related at 2:31 PM (99 comments total)

@ BIZZARO METAFILTER THERE ARE NO IN-JOKES!
posted by The Whelk at 2:38 PM on October 11, 2009

I went there looking for an explanation for "Is it 'Ghostbusters 2'?," ..."

Is it Ghostbusters 2?
posted by Pronoiac at 2:42 PM on October 11, 2009

I don't think Hardcore Taters is on there, but then again, it isn't a very ubiquitous in-joke.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:43 PM on October 11, 2009

Somebody tell me about the guns in people's profile pictures.
posted by typewriter at 2:44 PM on October 11, 2009

Wow, reading some of those old threads, I actually think the tenor of the site has improved, contrary to recent MeTa posts.
posted by desjardins at 2:47 PM on October 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Boyzone?
posted by axiom at 2:53 PM on October 11, 2009

I was amused that my "interest areas" included 'class', but not 'race'.
posted by gman at 2:55 PM on October 11, 2009 [5 favorites]

I would tell you about in-jokes, but I have been SILENCED ALL MY LIFE.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:56 PM on October 11, 2009

Do other people still have guns in their profiles? I mean... I do, but I figured I showed up to the party late.
posted by yeti at 3:04 PM on October 11, 2009

"Increased GRAR levels harsh my general lifebuzz."
posted by IndigoRain at 3:06 PM on October 11, 2009 [8 favorites]

As far as I'm concerned, the whole "in jokes" thing is kind of lame, and The Proprietor and Staff have repeatedly gone on record as not being all that keen about them. For the most part, they add little to the site, except confusion for noobies; and we all were noobies, once. So why perpetuate them?

On the other hand, it's a wiki that you want to update. Knock yourself out. 9622 really needs work; but, then again, it always needs work.
posted by paulsc at 3:08 PM on October 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

Do other people still have guns in their profiles? I mean... I do, but I figured I showed up to the party late.
posted by yeti at 6:04 PM on October 11 [+] [!]

But why? Won't somebody tell me? Puh-leeze?
posted by typewriter at 3:12 PM on October 11, 2009

I was surprised to find that fedoras weren't in the wiki, because I remembered writing about them. And, apparently, writing about being surprised that they're not in the wiki. Yeah, I should add that. And put the new entries in alphabetical order. *shrug*

Using the search option in the left sidebar of the wiki: Boyzone.

A quiz that said "YEAH WELL YOUR FACE" was not a meme made it an in-joke.

sixcolors: A user who posted often-offensive chatfilter.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:12 PM on October 11, 2009

Some could use more (any) explanation, like the Treaty of Westphalia.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 3:17 PM on October 11, 2009

Actually, sorry - I see the link leads to an explanation and not the normal wiki page like I had thought.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 3:20 PM on October 11, 2009

Guns in profiles. Thanks to jessamyn (and klangklangston).
posted by yeti at 3:24 PM on October 11, 2009

Is the mass enspousening in there?
posted by scalefree at 3:34 PM on October 11, 2009

Thanks, yeti. I see it was an internet brawl that I missed on the only 7 days I have been offline since 1995. See? All the more reason to STAY online, people. Let that be a warning to you.
posted by typewriter at 3:46 PM on October 11, 2009

Taters have had a good run as an in-joke. They will always be an enigma, however.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 3:47 PM on October 11, 2009

Please do not turn users, especially sort of off-kilter users, into in-jokes, it's cruel and sometimes problematic for us.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:52 PM on October 11, 2009 [13 favorites]

I've always thought that if I happened to meet someone I suspected of being a mefite, that it would be the in-jokes that would be the shibboleth.

Perhaps we need some sort of secret phrase that doesn't come up on google like, ***** **** ****** **** **********.
posted by 517 at 4:00 PM on October 11, 2009

Please do not turn users, especially sort of off-kilter users, into in-jokes, it's cruel and sometimes problematic for us.

'wendell' is already in the wiki.
posted by gman at 4:02 PM on October 11, 2009

Well, he's in on it, and he's not offkilter, so there's that.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:23 PM on October 11, 2009

It's not specifically a joke about him ("oh that wendell he so crazy"), it's a pun on his name. More importantly, he is in on and encourages the joke as much as anyone else.

If a newbie really wants an explanation of who sixcolors is, they can look up her userpage and activity pretty easily and it won't be framed in the context of a joke about her.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 4:25 PM on October 11, 2009

Well, he's in on it, and he's not offkilter, so there's that.

He's not what? It appears you and I have yet another difference of opinion.
posted by gman at 4:29 PM on October 11, 2009

This part of the Search For Taters still makes me giggle.
posted by CKmtl at 4:31 PM on October 11, 2009

Grilled cheese sandwiches (IYKWIM, AITYD).
posted by pompomtom at 4:58 PM on October 11, 2009

THE LONGBOAT.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 5:21 PM on October 11, 2009

Yes, I am an 'in-joke', and I am in the wiki, and I do not deny being offkilter, as defined as a much less severe case of 'unbalanced', so I would say that it's okay to make in-jokes of users, unless they are more than a little offkilter.

I have no problem with being an in-joke. My first Big Break came from allowing myself to be an in-joke. I was a regular caller to some of the non-political radio talk shows in L.A. in the '70s (it was a much gentler time), and once egotistically suggested to the screener at one show that I should get a higher priority in the call queue. He discussed it with the host (who was a comic genius AND an evil genius) and he decided to turn it on its head and make a running joke of "Keeping Wendell On Hold". I cooperated with the joke and did get to talk on the show almost daily, but was always cut off with "we have to put you back on hold, Wendell", which was a good idea because I was usually kinda long-winded (still am). I got more attention for my contributions than I would have without the joke and frequently got mentioned on-air without actually doing anything. I knew I had 'made it' when I heard another talker in a different timeslot say "who's on line seven? oh, it's Wendell? leave him on hold until Dick's show tomorrow" (and no, I WASN'T on line seven). I even authorized t-shirts saying "Keep America Beautiful, Keep Wendell On Hold" that were sold for a charity event, raising a couple hundred dollars. At one point the station was contacted by The Guinness Book of World Records who had heard that I had been "on hold" for several weeks and were considering putting me in the book. Yeah, World Record for Waiting On Hold. They wised up, but I did get a part-time job at the station screening the phones on weekends (where callers frequently asked 'are you THE Wendell?'). And when the Evil Genius Talker, 'Sweet' Dick Whittington, went to another station to do an AM Drive show, he hired me (cheap) as one of his multiple 'sidekicks' (and, in the name of consistency, declared me perpetually "On Probation"). I should have parlayed that into something even better, but unwisely believed I needed more 'conventional' radio experience and ended up stuck running a little automated radio station just outside Fresno (which even in 1978 was the Dumbest City in the USA). After I returned to L.A. and took on a series of boring jobs outside the radio biz, I did some jokewriting for various radio people, at one time publishing a 'jokeletter' titled "Wendell's Weakly". But the Wendell joke was no longer running... So, MeFites and MeFiLurkers, remember, being an 'in-joke' isn't all bad... it could get you into the Guinness Book of World Records under false pretenses (almost).
posted by wendell at 5:23 PM on October 11, 2009 [30 favorites]

From the wiki page:

"a reference to MetaFilter being taken over by a single topic. Lately this has been IraqFilter"

Guess that needs to be updated.
posted by smackfu at 5:24 PM on October 11, 2009

So are we still in the ElectionFilter era?
posted by xorry at 5:31 PM on October 11, 2009

"I actually know more about this subject than I think you can imagine."

The thing about in-jokes is, if they were really meant to be in-joke in-jokes in a snotty, exclusionary "we know something you don't know" sense, then they wouldn't be the wiki. Providing an in-joke glossary means that we want to help newfolk to understand them as funny little chunks of past/current MeFi culture.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:44 PM on October 11, 2009

If you're going to add the GRAR, then don't forget the schmoopy.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:47 PM on October 11, 2009

Is GFAR in there?
posted by subbes at 5:52 PM on October 11, 2009

Jeebus. Fedora 2 came out AGES ago. You should upgrade.
posted by tarheelcoxn at 5:57 PM on October 11, 2009

The.
posted by jtron at 6:14 PM on October 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Nerd Thunderdome!
posted by Midnight Rambler at 6:35 PM on October 11, 2009

Can't we just get beyond Thunderdome?
posted by shammack at 6:37 PM on October 11, 2009 [7 favorites]

Seeing "Is it Ghostbusters 2?" spread from something that my roommates and I said to each other to something internet strangers occasionally tell me and each other has been one of my most oddly satisfying accomplishments. It doesn't happen frequently, but it always makes me smile when I se it pop up.
posted by piratebowling at 6:48 PM on October 11, 2009

I think the scissors conundrum should be added.

As far as I'm concerned, the whole "in jokes" thing is kind of lame, and The Proprietor and Staff have repeatedly gone on record as not being all that keen about them. For the most part, they add little to the site, except confusion for noobies; and we all were noobies, once. So why perpetuate them?

Explicating the in-jokes on the web site is pretty much the opposite of this in my mind. They're going to continue even if they are not universally liked, so explaining them is the friendliest thing that can be done.
posted by grouse at 6:53 PM on October 11, 2009

I think my signifigant other's inability to process colors counts for something, as I'm pretty sure it served as inspiration for the impending April 1st chameleon hijinks.

firefox knows "methinks" but not "hijinks"
posted by luftmensch at 7:35 PM on October 11, 2009

Are they really injokes? Are they actually jokes, or just shared shorthand, coterie speech, shared cultural references? I think that's more what they are than jokes, and for that reason I definitely support a glossary explaining them.

I might submit sexy sex person for consideration.
posted by Miko at 7:41 PM on October 11, 2009 [7 favorites]

I have had it with these motherfucking lobsters in my motherfucking lederhosen.
posted by elizardbits at 7:44 PM on October 11, 2009 [4 favorites]

Also, from a folkloristic standpoint, grouse is correct: "injokes" can't ever be killed. They arise in any community, meatspace or internet, and even if theoretically outlawed people will create them. This is one of the ways a shared culture is expressed - through shorthand references that reinforce a feeling of belonging, creating a sense of mutual understanding with members of the group which isn't shared by people outside the group. You might not like that human beings are like that, but they are, in every situation, and as long as they aren't directly hurtful or inappropriate and thus subject to stated guidelines it's pretty much impossible to stop them from evolving.
posted by Miko at 7:45 PM on October 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

IMO, we are in the ObamaFilter/GlennBeckFilter era...

Other In-Jokes that may be deserving of Wikification:
Flag It and Move On
Everyone Needs a...
cortex and the giant donut (not to be confused with james and the giant peach)
jesus h. shatner (cortex's alter-alias, related to the Last Round and the Moderator Trinity)

and we need a clearer link between the In-Jokes page and Acronyms page because of the obvious overlap (I also think "SAIT/$20 Same as in town" and "FTFY/Fixed that for you" should be moved to the In-Jokes, but that's just me.)

So why hasn't anybody actually made changes yet today? It is, like, you know, a WIKI?
posted by wendell at 7:54 PM on October 11, 2009

My mention of profile guns. It was this photo.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:57 PM on October 11, 2009

i would like to point out that i did the treaty of wesphalia before meatbomb

*dejectedly kicks can*
posted by sourwookie at 8:00 PM on October 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

It's Never X for real *kicks can*

If it's not an in-joke, it should be.
posted by The Whelk at 8:17 PM on October 11, 2009

we need a clearer link between the In-Jokes page and Acronyms page because of the obvious overlap

Yeah, and it's a fuzzy line too. DTMFA in Ask is just an acronym, but in MetaTalk it's an in-joke.
posted by smackfu at 8:22 PM on October 11, 2009

So why hasn't anybody actually made changes yet today? It is, like, you know, a WIKI?

NOT IT!
posted by Pronoiac at 9:47 PM on October 11, 2009

START AT THE BEGINNING!
posted by The Whelk at 10:02 PM on October 11, 2009

sixcolors was a youngun who never really got a feel for the site and narcissistically abused it, and whose username has become synonymous with noisy, disruptive chatfilter, but I agree with jessamyn that it isn't fair to her (sixcolors) to add her name to the page.

"The" and the gun photos I'd be happy to see added to the wiki, however, as both are essentially impossible to search for, and both are in-jokes I was inexplicably an early-adopter and perpetuator of. That sort of shit needs to be memorialized.

"Ghostbusters 2" I had to search for. "Taters" is something I still don't understand, but which apparently has something to do with testicles. I'd like an explanation. "Class not race" is bound to become a Mefi meme in the near-future, but is still kind of mean to shetterly, and I think we'd maybe be best to stay away from it, if only because it'd be jumping the gun to include it now.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:13 PM on October 11, 2009

This is a terrible use of symbols and phonemes.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:20 PM on October 11, 2009

why
posted by eyeballkid at 11:50 PM on October 11, 2009

"The." is already on there - scan down to the t's.

What's wrong with the Treaty of Westphalia page? Er, other than the lack of sourwookie?

If you want to post something here to not be indexed by Google, put it on your profile page.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:51 PM on October 11, 2009

Everyone would like an explanation for taters. It was an Anonymous question to which we never got an answer.
posted by team lowkey at 12:18 AM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

Wow, hadn't actually seen that before, thanks! It also yielded this gem:

My guess about "tater/tator" is that it is a euphemism for the scrotum, since I can imagine the shape and size of Tater Tots to be somewhat similiar.

!!
posted by drjimmy11 at 12:41 AM on October 12, 2009

Wittle nutz for wittle boyz
posted by Burhanistan at 3:03 AM on October 12, 2009

So, MeFites and MeFiLurkers, remember, being an 'in-joke' isn't all bad...

All's well, that's wendell?
posted by flabdablet at 4:48 AM on October 12, 2009

I added a couple, taters and Ghostbusters 2.
posted by smackfu at 6:00 AM on October 12, 2009

sixcolors: A user who posted often-offensive chatfilter.

Ugh. Please don't do this.
posted by futureisunwritten at 6:13 AM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

I know more about in-jokes than you can possibly imagine.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 7:25 AM on October 12, 2009

Please, if you will, gently and slowly fuck the fuck off.
posted by adamvasco at 7:56 AM on October 12, 2009

Is Andy Zaltzman of The Bugle podcast a Mefite? Consider this question from a pet advice column in Episode 91 (3:50 in):

"I think my dog is Jewish. He won't eat sausages, and barks at our cat, who's called Palestine. Where can I find a Rabbi vet to circumcise him?"
posted by Horace Rumpole at 8:47 AM on October 12, 2009

Does anyone have a link to that form letter response to MetaTalk requests? It had various checkboxes like "This won't work because [ ] it is a technological solution to a human problem"
posted by smackfu at 8:56 AM on October 12, 2009

elizardbits: I have had it with these motherfucking lobsters in my motherfucking lederhosen.

The Verbose Surrealist's 7483 Things to Do with a Lobster and a Lightly Soiled Pair of Lederhosen isn's an injoke, unless you would call the Three Gorges Dam a Chinese injoke.
posted by Kattullus at 9:04 AM on October 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

Horace Rumpole: Is Andy Zaltzman of The Bugle podcast a Mefite?

I had the same thought but I don't believe he is, not enough cricket on MetaFilter. I think it's just a bunch of references that happen to mirror a couple of MeFi injokes.
posted by Kattullus at 9:06 AM on October 12, 2009

If anyone cares, I have an index to The Verbose Surrealist's 7483 Things to Do with a Lobster and a Lightly Soiled Pair of Lederhosen on my profile.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:14 AM on October 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

Why do so many of our in-jokes have to do with foodstuffs? Pancakes, portabello mushrooms, taters, grilled cheese sandwiches, plates of beans, HURF DURF BUTTER EATER?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:22 AM on October 12, 2009

We're a hungry, hungry people.
posted by The Whelk at 9:25 AM on October 12, 2009

Are we foodies or feeders?
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:47 AM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

Says the man with the donut.
posted by The Whelk at 9:48 AM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

Who stuck the sneaky 'I do not want to be exposed to anus' commercial in there at the very end of the page? If it was linking to official MetaFilter merchandise, that would be one thing, but at the moment it looks like it's being used as a crafty piece of independent marketing
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:51 AM on October 12, 2009

I'd definitely buy an official 'I do not want to be exposed to anus' t-shirt, but I'm not buying one of those crappy counterfeits.

Mathowie needs to protect the brand!
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:55 AM on October 12, 2009

Dates back to 2004.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:58 AM on October 12, 2009

I'd definitely buy an official 'I do not want to be exposed to anus' t-shirt, but I'm not buying one of those crappy counterfeits.

But the beer stein makes an excellent present for Granny.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:22 AM on October 12, 2009

"This is why we can't have nice things."

I'm pretty sure this originated on Everybody Loves Raymond.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:45 PM on October 12, 2009

This is a bad question and you're a bad person for asking it.
posted by qvantamon at 1:46 PM on October 12, 2009

On the other hand, at least the wiki has a professional white background.
posted by qvantamon at 1:48 PM on October 12, 2009

I, on the other hand, am pretty sure that, in nine critically-acclaimed award-winning seasons, Everybody Loves Raymond never made an original joke.
posted by box at 2:15 PM on October 12, 2009 [4 favorites]

Well, he's in on it, and he's not offkilter, so there's that.

This is a good point. I think we'd all prefer it if Wendell left his kilter on.

I have noticed that there has been a movement away from "pancakes" toward "pie."

I also think that there have been a number of humorous variations of IANAL that belong in the "in joke" category as well.
posted by louche mustachio at 2:30 PM on October 12, 2009

Ah, I see the acronyms have been taken care of. Never mind.

This, however


I know more about _______ than you can possibly imagine.


is a good call.
posted by louche mustachio at 2:34 PM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

While we are discussing the wiki, I just noticed that the MeFi celebrities page left out mathowie. Surely he is as big an internet celebrity as some of the others listed, isn't he?

Also, am I the only one who when they see GRAR thinks GWAR?
posted by TedW at 2:42 PM on October 12, 2009

Sys Rq: ""This is why we can't have nice things."

I'm pretty sure this originated on Everybody Loves Raymond."

It was used in the movie Mafia! in 1998 ("That's why we don't have nice things") and in The Simpsons in 2001 (the Linguo episode). As best as I can tell it was used in Everybody Loves Raymond in season 5, which was 2000-2001.

I'd wager that it's older than all three, but Mafia! is the oldest I can find. And if I'm going to guess how it was popularized on the internet, I'm going to bet on The Simpsons over Raymond.
posted by team lowkey at 3:07 PM on October 12, 2009

All good fun, but adding to the "not inclusive of sixcolors" thing.

That said, the nay-sayers of in-jokes on Metafilter haven't really grasped the way internet communities work.
posted by panboi at 3:43 PM on October 12, 2009

What, after all, is a seekrit Masonic ritual but an elaborate in-joke?

There is no cabal.
posted by flabdablet at 4:32 PM on October 12, 2009

lowkey: Yeah, well, point being, it doesn't have particularly excellent provenance and could probably stand to GDIAF.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:44 PM on October 12, 2009

Yeah, well, point taken, I'm just sayin' it has as much legitimacy as "I for one welcome...", which could probably stand to GFAR as well.
posted by team lowkey at 4:56 PM on October 12, 2009

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:09 PM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

"We can't have nice things" (albeit usually without the "this is why") was a minor catchphrase on MST3K as well. It appeared at least as early as episode 519, "Outlaw" (1993).
posted by shammack at 5:13 PM on October 12, 2009

Whoops, let's try that second link again. (It was in the movie too.)
posted by shammack at 5:15 PM on October 12, 2009

eponysterical

I still don't know what it means.
posted by grumblebee at 6:52 PM on October 12, 2009

eponysterical

I still don't know what it means.

Here you go.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:01 PM on October 12, 2009

Is this where I make up injokes to confuse new users?

Metafilter Memes and InJokes of 2009:
"where my is mathowie, ipod?"
"Gosh, my boxers where haven't they been now!"
pictures of mice on telephone wires
using a semicolon to designate sad cyclops
"Theodore Roosevelt could kick his ass"
ascii smiling fisherman
"how i type box"
linking all citations to studies of operand conditioning
constructing posts as if they were interoffice memos
"ttfku8"
posted by TwelveTwo at 11:01 PM on October 12, 2009 [4 favorites]

How could you mislead the norbs like that.

;
posted by team lowkey at 11:24 PM on October 12, 2009

TwelveTwo: Metafilter Memes and InJokes of 2009:

This reminds me of this classic Letterman bit about the search for a new catchphrase (What do you want... wicker?!)
posted by Kattullus at 7:49 AM on October 13, 2009

ttfku888888*****eightyeight
posted by brain_drain at 9:09 AM on October 13, 2009

;
posted by Secretariat at 12:46 PM on October 13, 2009

[placeholder comment on the irony of creating new in-jokes in a thread about old in-jokes]
posted by desjardins at 1:50 PM on October 13, 2009